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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29865579">Les Années de Pèlerinage</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BvinYa_Raama/pseuds/BvinYa_Raama'>BvinYa_Raama</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adult Harry Potter, Adventure, Adventure &amp; Romance, Camping, Cross-Country - Freeform, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Humor, M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant, Post-War, Road Trips, Romance, Running Away, Slow Build, Travel, United States, Van - Freeform, harrylu, lucarry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:15:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,281</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29865579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BvinYa_Raama/pseuds/BvinYa_Raama</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Not all those who wander are lost.”<br/>-J.R.R. Tolkien</p><p>It has been years of living under high scrutiny and expectations, as the Saviour of the Wizarding World, and Harry finally realises he needs to live life on his own terms. Perhaps start his own adventure in another world. And perhaps, there is someone who needs the adventure just as much as he does.<br/>Alternatively, the fic in which Harry sets out on a cross-country trip across the United States in the way he always approached things- without a well-thought out plan or preparation- and gets himself an anonymous travel-buddy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lucius Malfoy/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Harry x Lucius</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Les Années de Pèlerinage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/williamsnickers/gifts">williamsnickers</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt found in <a href="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2429719/williamsnickers">Williamsnickers'</a> Harry/Lucius blog called <a href="https://kingsofthewheel.wordpress.com/">Kings of the Wheel</a>.<br/>No thanks can be enough for the many communities on Discord, who helped me immensely with locations and routes, places of interest and shops and other trivia. This fic would not have been possible otherwise, because I have never been either to America, or on a road trip.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>
  <strong>P – A Need to Get Away</strong>
</h2><p> </p><p> </p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>“Not all those who wander are lost.”</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>-J.R.R. Tolkien</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p> </p><p>
  <strong>August, 2015</strong>
</p><p>After his catastrophic marriage, of which the only result he did not regret was his three, lovely children, Harry Potter decided that he needed a break.</p><p>He resigned from his job as an Auror, much to the surprise of his colleagues and exasperation of Head Auror Robards and moved to Muggle London.</p><p>Their divorce had been splattered all across the Prophet and the tabloids, leading to rumours of infidelity and manipulation, especially since he had to give up the house and custody of the children to Ginny. His ex-wife had been presented as a vicious spitfire in the papers, which was not completely true, and people were hounding Harry at every possible place with sympathy and desire.</p><p> </p><p>Harry still had rights to spend weekends with his children, but both Lily and Albus were mad at him for not working harder to stay together, and James was down with the pox, quarantined away at the Burrow. The divorce had strained his relationship with the Weasleys and Ron had chosen to remain neutral, not wanting to choose between his best friend and his sister.</p><p>He had moved back into Grimmauld Place, much to the delight of Kreacher, and taken to haunting the Muggle shopping streets, looking for ways to pass the time, when he saw it.</p><p>A travel-company office.</p><p>Well, he couldn’t really just take off to some place like that; but the idea was nice. And it kept popping up in his head throughout the week until Harry headed to the travel agency to start the process for owning a passport. His Ministry identification was charmed to pass off as a nationality document, and soon, he was heading home, humming and happier than he had been in months.</p><p>He spent the next week calculating rough expenses and posted an anonymous advertisement in the Daily Prophet- Travelling companion wanted for a cross-country impromptu trip in the United States- listing out the monetary and time requirements for such an endeavour.</p><p>As much as he liked to imagine running away by himself, Harry knew he would feel the need for company very quickly and grow bored if he went alone. And a travel group would have the sort of strict schedule he wouldn’t be able to appreciate and would probably have to hurry through some sights to make up time to glimpse others; which would ruin the whole purpose of the trip.</p><p> </p><p>Harry hadn’t planned much beyond the food and rent expenses, but he went ahead and bought a camping tent, just in case, and began packing. The passport application had been accepted, and he could set off in a month weeks. And another half month, if the US visa was delayed.</p><p>Within the week, he received an anonymous reply to the travelling companion arrangement, and sent back a letter laying out his plans and ideas, as well as supplies list. They would meet up on the day of the trip, and take a cab, and then the Tube to Heathrow.</p><p> </p><p>He spent his free time with Ron and Hermione and his various godchildren, stopped by Andromeda’s to visit Teddy and even braved a visit to the Burrow to see James.</p><p>The latter too, it turned out, was upset about the divorce, but he was at least old enough to realise that his mother and father had different needs and reluctantly nodded at him through the quarantine ward.</p><p>“I’ll miss you.” The boy said sadly. “You’ll visit every week, won’t you, Dad?”</p><p>Harry shook his head. He hadn’t told anyone about the trip he was planning, but he had to tell James. He couldn’t make the children wait for him in the weekend and then not show up. James’ eyes widened, and Harry hurriedly made him promise to keep it a secret, for now. He didn’t want to deal with Ginny or Molly at the moment- or risk it leaking into the press.</p><p> </p><p>And finally, the day of the trip arrived, and Harry found himself jittery like he hadn’t been since the day of his wedding.</p><p>This would be his new beginning.</p><p>Kreacher was making him some toast, eggs and fruit when the door-knocker rang. He opened it to find an awkward Lucius Malfoy at his doorstep, travel backpack and informal Muggle clothes and all.</p><p>“Mr Potter.” The blond greeted politely. “I should have known.” His eyes scanned the old Black townhouse, no doubt taking in the changes Harry had made since he moved in.</p><p>“Um. Hi.” He said lamely. “Come in.”</p><p>Harry was still processing the fact that his anonymous travel-buddy had been Malfoy all along, but he led the wizard to the kitchen where Kreacher had begun setting out the table. The elf recognised the blond, and quickly laid another set of plates and napkins.</p><p>“Would you like to have breakfast with me, Mr Malfoy?” He asked awkwardly.</p><p> </p><p>The last time he had seen the Malfoy patriarch had been years ago, in one of the courtrooms where he and Narcissa Malfoy had been sentenced to house-arrest, Harry having spoken up for the latter. With sufficient bribes and a passive role in the second war, the Malfoy couple had escaped Azkaban; he and his wife had not been a big part of Wizarding society ever since.</p><p>(Of course, Hermione, who had started her own department in the Ministry, saw Mr Malfoy a lot more than the Aurors did, having accepted his offer of funding the House-Elf Rights movement. She had been surprised, to put it lightly.)</p><p> </p><p>Harry began nibbling on his toast, unease curling in his stomach. He hadn't expected it to be Malfoy- there were thousands of Wizards in London. What were the odds of getting an ex-Death Eater?</p><p>Before Malfoy could pick up on it, though, Harry made up his mind and chased away that train of thought.</p><p>Well, he was going on this trip no matter what, and Malfoy was already packed and ready. The whole point of an anonymous travel-companion was to get to know someone without the baggage of being the Boy-Who-Lived; he supposed he could do the same for Malfoy.</p><p>“Have you flown before, Mr Malfoy?” Harry asked brightly. “On a plane, I mean.”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Me neither. I’m looking forward to it, though.”</p><p>A nod, and then silence.</p><p> </p><p>It was getting rather awkward, and they both were glad Malfoy had arrived early- it was better to get the discomfort out of their system before they went to the airport, and Harry had one question weighing heavily on his mind.</p><p>“Erm, did the ad mention we’d be doing this the Muggle way?”</p><p>Malfoy’s lips pursed. “I did read the advertisement fully before replying to you, Mr Potter. Hard as it might be to believe, I <em>am</em> interested in learning Muggle culture.”</p><p>Harry dropped his gaze guiltily. Everyone deserved a second chance, and Malfoy wasn’t the same sneering git Harry remembered from the Department of Mysteries. As Harry wasn’t the naïve boy he had been back then. “I’m sorry. I believe you.” He said earnestly, and offered his hand. “And please, call me Harry. None of that ‘Mr Potter’ business, seeing that we’re going to be spending the next few months together.”</p><p>The blond shook his hand, his grey eyes betraying a sliver of relief from under his unaffected mask. “In that case, Harry, I insist you call me Lucius.”</p><p> </p><p>After breakfast, Harry and Lucius went over the list of supplies again- they had a tent, a backpack of basic cooking essentials and spare clothes. The former suddenly had an idea, and disappeared to fetch an old, worn handbag.</p><p>“Undetectable Extension Charms,” Harry explained, grinning. “In case something gets too heavy to lift.”</p><p>They both had apparated to Diagon Alley beforehand to exchange Galleons for Muggle currency, so their wallets were well stocked, Kreacher had packed them lunches to have on the Tube, and yet, there seemed to be something missing which kept haunting Harry all the way through their ride on the Tube. It wasn’t until the pair stopped at Heathrow Airport that Harry noticed tourists clicking selfies by the terminal five stop, and realised they were missing a camera.</p><p>He quickly darted into a store and bought a small digital camera that could be hung around his neck and joined Lucius in the check-in area. “Got everything?”</p><p>The blond nodded, eyeing the camera. Harry grinned and immediately snapped a picture of the former’s puzzled face. “C’mon, let’s go.”</p><p> </p><p>Fortunately, their magically-faked documents cleared through, and their tickets were printed, and within an hour or two, they found themselves inside the economy-class cabin of a transatlantic flight to Seattle.</p><p>Harry leaned across Lucius to watch the aircraft taking off and was startled to feel the subtle sensation of being in the air. He could hear the powerful whirr of jet engines under the aircraft wing, and wondered how powerful they had to be to carry such a metal mammoth through the sky.</p><p>“It’s different, isn’t it? Nothing like riding brooms or Abraxans.” Lucius peered curiously out of the window to watch Heathrow getting smaller and smaller as they rose. “Winged horses,” he clarified when Harry blinked in confusion. “My father used to have a racing pair.”</p><p>“What happened to them?”</p><p>“Nothing, really. They died of age and I didn’t bother replacing them.” At that moment, Lucius suddenly looked extremely snooty Harry was tempted to hex his nose.</p><p>It was a ten hour trip, and Harry found himself wishing he had packed a book or some cards to kill time. The flight attendants occasionally brought ludicrously priced sandwiches and beverages, of which Harry was surprised to see Lucius buy the least-priced fruit juice.</p><p>“I thought you would have gone for the champagne.”</p><p>Lucius wrinkled his nose. “They’re not choice wines, Potter. I wouldn’t be getting my money’s worth.”</p><p>Of course. Harry rolled his eyes and turned to the round-ish window framing skies filled with endless, snow-white clouds. It had been breath-taking, at first, his first glimpses of an altitude that even his Firebolt could not reach, but two hours of stratospheric fluff began taking on a dull prospect.</p><p>It was a while before the glare died away, to be replaced by the sight of wispy clouds illuminated in shades of gold, rose and violet, flashes of crimson where the sun hit the clouds at all the right angles that mesmerised him with its colours.</p><p>But it seemed they were faster than the sun, for the brightness was constant for most of the trip, only dimming occasionally depending on the directions the plane took. After that hint of a sunset that he could not see, there was little Harry could amuse himself with.</p><p> </p><p>So he closed the window and nodded off.</p><p> </p><p>Harry woke up to a tapping on his arm, and acutely felt his neck muscles cramp as he lifted his head from Lucius’ shoulders.</p><p>“It’s dinnertime.” The blond said, clearing his lap of blankets and stationery.</p><p>Harry caught words on the notepad in Lucius’ elegant cursive. “Travelogue?”</p><p>The other man smiled. “Perhaps I will make a book out of my experiences. As of now, it is merely a journal.”</p><p>Upon impulse, Harry pulled out his camera and caught that rare, unassuming smile, startling the man again. He then proceeded to snap pictures of the tiny plate of pasta and rolls the airline provided to cover up his embarrassment.</p><p>Lucius wrinkled his nose at the pasta- but did not comment. (Harry was sure nothing was as bad as Azkaban gruel, otherwise the former wouldn’t have been so silent.) They were supposed to land in half an hour, so Harry rolled up the window and waited.</p><p>He gasped at the sight of the city, bright and bejewelled with lights against the cerulean backdrop, reflective glass and steel flashing at the misty horizons with the thousands of lighted buildings- a busy landscape that never slept. The skyscrapers loomed so high it felt as though if he could open the glass windows and reach out, he would touch them.</p><p>Beside him, Lucius exhaled softly. “Now that’s a sight you don’t see every day.”</p><p>No International Portkey or Apparation jumps would match a view like that, with the city curving around the blue-black waters of Elliott Bay, its expanse a dancing, flittering reflection of the sky above it.</p><p>They flew past the Space Needle before gently lowering into the SeaTac’s runway.</p><p> </p><p>They ran into a bit of trouble at the Immigration and Customs check point, having ended up in the wrong queue and misunderstanding a few terms. Lucius looked hesitantly at Harry, who returned him a brave smile and went ahead. The Muggle officials peered curiously at Hermione’s old purse, which thankfully passed through the X-Ray machine looking empty.</p><p>Harry mentally thanked her Undetectable Extension Charms- it was incredibly undetectable. He was pretty sure false Sword of Gryffindor was still inside the clutter, somewhere, along with various other items that wouldn’t fit in a purse. He had a moment of hilarity imagining that, and the Muggle Customs officer narrowed her eyes at him.</p><p>In the other booth, Lucius was having trouble as well. He had accidentally lost his Pureblood mask and was caught staring at the various machines and conveyor belts in fascination, murmuring his marvel at Muggle technology.</p><p>It took a while, and subtly persuading Lucius to not try and bribe them- Harry didn’t want his first experience of America to be as a detainee of the airport security- but they made it out without losing any of their luggage, and finally set foot on American soil.</p><p> </p><p>The smell of freedom and adventure was glorious.</p><p>-------------------</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><b>Prompt:</b> Following a turbulent divorce from Ginny, Harry Potter, 35, a father of three, decides to go on a (muggle) individual van tour through America. He posts an anonymous ad in the Daily Prophet and asks for a random travel buddy who can both afford the trip and is interested in learning about muggle culture. Much to his surprise, on the day of leaving, he finds an awkward Lucius Malfoy on his doorstep, wandless and ready to travel.</p><p>Title taken from a series of works by my favourite composer, Franz Liszt, of the same name. Literally translates to 'Years of Pilgrimage'.<br/>Readers, shippers and content creators, lend me your ears!<br/>Come join my <a href="https://discord.gg/WuT6S5Ra9F">Lucius/Harry server</a>! I want to have a general fandom server for this ship so that it may grow and get more content.<br/>A great person once told me, "Be the tag you wish to see on AO3."</p></blockquote></div></div>
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